Golden Time of Cricket Teams: West Indies 1975-1984

Gone are the days when West Indies aka Windies reigned the ODI cricket in its early days. Those were the days when an ODI match was of 60 overs, without any power plays and fielding restrictions. Holding a red ball, Men dressed in white played the first world cup in 1975 where West Indies under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd lofted the first World Cup trophy.

West Indies during 1975-1984 was one team that was always a hard nut to crack for all the cricketing nations. Windies were blessed with legendary players like Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Rohan Kanhai, Michael Holding, Collis King and Desmond Haynes. All these players who rose from the Caribbean have registered profuse golden memories of the glorious days they spent entertaining the spectators on the cricket grounds – the defeat of Aussies in the 1975 world cup final was not less than stupendous and this performance was repeated in 1979 when England lost to West Indies in a pulsating World Cup final match.

Although there was a major hit to West Indies in 1983 world cup final when they lost playing against India, But it is a reality that Windies enjoyed their supremacy as the best ODI team from 1975 to 1984.

Technically speaking, this West Indies team was the best team ever this game has produced. It was a force to reckon with. One can see that many names of West Indian cricket who appear in this team are included in the list of best players ever. The best bowlers and batsmen of the world played in this team. No wonder this team was able to win 2 world cup cricket tournaments. Although there have been other cricketing units who have played some great cricket, this is the squad everyone still looks up to.